Panel Discussion | Postdocs in Germany: Challenges, Opportunities, and Perspectives

This event was supposed to take place during the PAW week but had to be postponed. Join us now on October 23rd 3.30-4.30 pm. via Zoom. If you already registered for this event, you do not need to register again.

During the last years, the situation and challenges postdocs in Germany face have been widely discussed and received widespread attention. Particularly in the ongoing conversation regarding the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz, there have been several pressing conversations about what is “best” for German academia and postdoctoral researchers in general. However, international postdocs and German postdoc networks have hardly been heard and taken into consideration.  

This panel will bring together international postdocs and representatives of different established Postdoc Networks in Germany and the Parliamentary Secretary of the BMBF Dr. Jens Brandenburg to discuss several pressing topics: defining the roles of postdocs in the current academic system, the issues facing international postdocs, the career and life aspirations of postdocs, and constructing effective solutions to improve the situation of all postdocs in Germany.

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Dr. Nicholas Russell is a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, utilizing mathematical and experimental techniques to investigate cell differentiation in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves. Nick has been the General Secretary of the Max Planck PostdocNet since 2021 and has been the group leader for the Survey Working Group of the PostdocNet, gaining valuable data on postdocs at the Max Planck to understand their needs.
Dr. Aysel Sultan is lecturer at the department of Science, Technology and Society at the Technical University of Munich. She has a background in the sociology of health and illness and educational science and a keen interest in the application of Science and Technology Studies approaches in public health, treatment and healthcare policies. She completed her academic degrees in Azerbaijan, Lithuania and Germany. Lately, Aysel has been working on the use of technologies especially smartphones and social media to understand how children and young people experience digital communication and build knowledge around health, harm and safety”. Aysel is a Board Member of the Munich Postdoc Network.
Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research (BMBF)
Dr. Mine Altinli is a post-doctoral researcher working on virus interactions in mosquitoes at the Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM). She joined the Leibniz PostDoc Network in 2021 as the Working Conditions and Mental Health working group coordinator. Since 2022, she has been the spokesperson of the Leibniz PostDoc Network.
Dr Jasmin Groß is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) at the University of Oldenburg. She is Spokesperson of the Alfred-Wegner-Institute Helmholtz-Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) Postdoc Team since 2021 and involved in the foundation of a Helmholtz-wide Postdoc Network.
Helmholtz Munich
Postdoc Coordinator, Scientific Talent and Career Development
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Postdocs, doctoral researchers, science managers

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